Powersports Forecast: Snow mixed with speed

Snowmobile races in August?That will be the case for the 28th annual season of Sno-Motion 2014 at Nelson’s Speed Shop, north of Greenville off of M-91 on Friday and Saturday.This will be the first Sno-Motion with the new Nelson's Speed Shop facility, which had its grand re-opening in May. The previous shop sustained a destructive fire June 22, 2012.Owner Jack Nelson's shop has added monster trucks, drag races and other events over the years to highlight the powersport event. Event officials noted that 2014 model snowmobiles and ATVs will be on display Friday and Saturday. Gates will open at 10 a.m. and close at 6 p.m. on both days.“Typically, we'll have between 10,000 and 12,000 people show up for the two-day show,” Nelson said. “We're anticipating and hoping that to be higher this year because of our new building. We're hoping that people come to see the new building as well as our event. We’ve got some new attractions.”Friday's show will feature a matinee program with $5 admission with kids 12 and younger admitted free. The program, at 1 p.m., features monster truck and freestyle events with ATV motorcycle snowmobiles.“We've drawn them from as far away as New York and Canada, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana and lllinois,” Nelson said. “They come from all over the place.”Factory representatives will be available to discuss their new 2014 vehicle lineups. A midway carnival area with food vendors will be featured. Price of admission is $15. Children 12 and younger can enter for free for all events. On Saturday, in addition to the main events, spectators will be able to see tractor races, snow races on actual snow, freestyle competitions and more. Sno-Cross races will begin with snowmobile freestyle jumps and backflips featured on Saturday, which will also have free lawn motor tractor races. The backflips will be among the new features of the event, Nelson pointed out.There will be a monster truck show on Saturday, with monster truck rides available all-day. Nelson was able to have the event last year despite the fire, but noted that attendance was down to about 8,000.“But we thought a lot of that was that we were without phones for about two months,” he said. “Lots of people didn't think we were in business and that type of thing.”Nelson started the event, but no one ever thought it would grow to the magnitude it is today.“We had like two racks of clothing and eight snowmobiles on display at a little roller rink in town here,” Nelson said. “We had 300 people turn out that night, had a great time and thought that was huge. Since then, we've outgrown our local fairgrounds. Now we have it on location where we have 130 acres behind us to use for parking and have all sno-cross and drag races going on behind the store.”Nelson and his staff start in December, or whenever the first snowfall comes, to plow the snow around the grounds and store it in a huge hole on the property. They dig it back up for the summer event, Nelson said. Nelson and his staff have learned now to insulate the hole and keep the snow preserved until the event. It's usually good for at least a couple of hours during the summer day, he noted.Heather Lange, an office assistant at Nelson, noted that the event is conducted around the same time each year.“It's pretty unique as far as of burying the snow and having races on real snow,” Lange said. “There are other snow shows out there, but this is by far the most unique one.”